A brief note on the Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith contract extension

It’s the dead time of the NFL off-season. Usually this means that there is no real news and message board fans and sports talk radio shows spend this time beating each other up over theoretical NFL topics Of Great Concern.

People have asked me about the contract extensions of Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith. I’m good with it. There is no salary cap for non-player expenses, and it ain’t my money.

Right now, your Houston Texans may have one of the best coaching staffs from top to bottom in the league. People pay a lot of attention to head coaches, and a lesser degree to offensive and defensive coordinators. But having an entire staff that is all on the same page as far as teaching and philosophy allows the coaching staff to focus on coaching and not trying to fix or figure out everyone’s job.

It takes time usually to pull a staff together. Teams don’t have to release assistants from under contracts. Slowly over time, the Texans have got coaches that fit what they are trying to do.

They haven’t skimped on coaches in the past. Mike Sherman, Alex Gibbs likely were paid well to spend some time with the Texans. But Rick Dennison was Kubiak’s first choice to be offensive coordinator, and was able to discover the Texans running game. Wade Phillips fits so well as a defensive coordinator, in Houston, everybody believes he needs (some day later versus sooner) to retire as Texans DC.

Kubiak’s Win/Loss Record.

The argument against Kubiak’s extension is that his win/loss record is very average. This is true. It is also true that he’s not like Jon Gruden inheriting an already terrific team. He came to a team without a quarterback, with one of the worst offenses and defenses in the league.

Kubiak, being an offensive-minded head coach, was able to fix the offensive side of the ball first, and pretty much develop a quarterback from scratch. I read somewhere the opinion that Kubiak has a “mediocre resume” but I don’t think too many incoming head coaches have three Super Bowl rings with two different teams.

I wish my resume were that mediocre.

The reason for the depression of Kubiak’s win/loss record were his terrible, terrible defenses. Sometimes I was stunned they won as many games as they did with a defense that was never higher than the bottom third of the league. He went through two defensive coordinators before Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did the Texans a favor and fired Wade Phillips as head coach.

So the blame argument goes: It is on Kubiak and Smith that they didn’t hire a proven defensive coordinator earlier. Perhaps. But I watched those firings and hirings as closely as anyone. And I can’t say that modern pass-happy NFL has been very kind to defensive coordinators. Many of the names floated for the Texans defensive coordinator position during hiring time were fired from the jobs they ended up getting.

And eek, how about those who teeth gnashed that the Texans didn’t hire Gregg Williams?

Assembling as Staff.

Instead of judging the Kubiak/Smith extensions now based on being unhappy about coordinator choices in the past, why not focus on the now and the future? They’ve assembled their staff. They have established philosophies on both sides of the ball and know what players suit what they do.

As for the off-season moves and cap management, I’m guessing the season and time will judge these decisions. Can this staff coach up the new players and preserve the old players for this upcoming season?

Kubiak with a Shorter Term than Smith.

Bob McNair said he offered a longer term for the head coach, but Kubiak rejected that. What is there to make with Rick Smith having a contract that ends in 2016 and Gary Kubiak having one that ends in 2014 at Kubiak’s preference? Hard to say. Maybe Kubiak hasn’t liked the trend of lame duck coaches who stay under contract while their assistance go elsewhere because their head coach is dead man walking. See e.g. John Fox with the Panthers, Jack Del Rio with the Jaguars.

And maybe he believes he can make more money that way.

I will say that if the team plays poor enough that Bob McNair wants to get rid of Gary Kubiak, I don’t want Rick Smith to stay around longer. The main reason why Smith made any sense with the Texans was as someone who knew what Kubiak needed/wanted for the team. The Kubiak/Smith pairing made some sense given how Charley Casserly and Dom Capers were so at odds with personnel decisions that the coach didn’t want to play some guys, and Casserly would bad mouth picks that the coaches wanted.

Ultimately, the Texans players play hard for Kubiak, even when they weren’t playing smart. And the players like and respect him, though anyone who believes he’s soft on players hasn’t been to many practices. Often his biggest supporters have been players that were at one time in Kubiak’s doghouse.

So I guess, no, Texans owner Bob McNair didn’t have to extend either one of these guys. There have been coaches/GMs put in lame duck situations. But he’s the guy writing the checks. And accepting the consequences of the contracts. And believing in the philosophy of continuity, that has worked for some teams, not so much for others. And he’s the guy that has far more one-on-one dealings with Kubiak and Smith than most everyone other than their family members.

Your thoughts? You know where to put them. [Update: I just noticed that I wrote so much that my “brief note” promised in the headline wasn’t so brief. Oops].